Summer 2010 has officially kicked off! I don't know about y'all, but I'm pretty excited. Anyhoo. With the first week of May comes our first big summer blockbuster, and it's pretty exciting to see Iron Man gracing our screens again. But, wait. Hold on, folks. While Iron Man 2 is a fun action flick, it doesn't quite measure up to the bar set by its predecessor, and even Robert Downey Jr. seems to be resting a wee bit on his laurels. 

However, the flick is still a fun ride. 

Read more to find out why Iron Man 2 is better than Transformers 2 but not The Dark Knight. 

Iron Man 2 picks up directly where the last movie left off: with Tony Stark (RDj) announcing that he was indeed Iron Man. While we watch the news footage on the TV, the camera pans over to a scary-looking Russian--oops, no, that's just Mickey Rourke. Apparently Ivan is pissed off at the Stark family for allegedly stealing technology from his father and thereby condemning his own family to ruin. So, of course he wants revenge by building his own suit thingy. 

Meanwhile Col. Rhodes has somehow become Don Cheadle, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) has become CEO of Stark Industries, Tony has got himself a hot new assistant who may or many not have a dark secret (spoiler alert: she does. And oh, she's Scarlett Johansson), and the US Government wants Tony to hand over his super suit, much to the pressuring of Stark's nemesis Justin Hammer (played by Sam Rockwell). Oh, plus that battery thingy in Tony's chest is slowly killing him if he can't find a suitable replacement. Whew! That's a whole lotta plot right there. 

Now, where the original Iron Man was a big ball o' fun and a sweet ride, its sequel is a bit of a downer. Granted, I understand forgoing some fun for character development, but it almost seems like RDj is just playing...well, RDj. Or Sherlock Holmes. Or...oh, hell. Who can tell? I mean, I love Downey, but sometimes you want something a little more from your superheros than just snark mixed with alcoholism. Or, is that just me? 

Almost everyone else is pretty ho-hum in their characters: Paltrow has a stick up her butt, ScarJo is sexy (WHAT?), Cheadle is good in a smallish part. But both Rockwell and Rourke are pretty spot on in their villainous roles. Justin Hammer is just so fucking smarmy, and Ivan is incredibly greasy but wicked. 

But... since the dawning of The Dark Knight all blockbuster/action sequels now have a standard to measure up to. Sure, this movie is no schlockfest like the deplorable Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. But, for me, it doesn't hold up quite as much to the first. It's a little clunkier, a little heavier on its feet, maybe a little too flashy. In the pinnacle fight, Tony and Rhodey are fighting against faceless droids. While some of the action is cool, it still doesn't feel quite real enough to me. I want a face behind a fight, not the villain sitting behind a computer. The whole movie sometimes can't decide if it wants to be more about machines than men. 

All in all, Iron Man 2 is a fun summer blockbuster. Don't get me wrong. I didn't hate this movie at all. The action sequence where Ivan appears in Monaco on the racetrack is a great fight--probably better than the climax fight, in my opinion--but the apex of the film just didn't hit high enough for me. The cast is charming and the writing is fairly tight, but this Iron Man can't quite soar quite as high as the first film. 

--Darcie Duttweiler